‘No food for you!’: Clever Lunch Lady Settles Score With P.E Teacher That Forced Students To Run Cross Country on Hottest Day of The Year

Author image for Sienna Varady
Sienna Varady
Mar 15, 2024 10:00 AM EDT

One should carefully weigh all the elements involved before engaging in a fight or any kind of dispute. Put another way, it is essential that you study your rivals and determine the benefits and drawbacks of each strategy so that you can outwit and outmaneuver them before they know it.

The story that unfolds is that of a frustrated mother. The Original Poster (OP) is the child of the woman featured in the story below. The plot is first set in the early 1980s in what is commonly referred to as the 'Down Under'. His mother, a former hospital employee, helps out in the school cafeteria. On this specific day, the mother was at the school preparing lunches when she spotted students with bright red faces and gasping for air. At first, she was surprised and couldn't figure out why they were so disheveled, but then she realized that the P.E. teacher picked that day to have them run a cross-country.  Basically, the teacher informed the class that in order to complete the course, they would need to run a little over three miles on one of the warmest days of the year…

That being said, be sure to read the story below if you're interested in learning how OP's mother got even with the P.E. teacher! And when you're finished, don't forget to embark on a legendary laughing spree with these 27 iconic memes!

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  • 01
    "Dont mess with the lunch lady..."
    via Canva
  • 02
    A P.E. teacher got the smallest ½ teacake for several years and didn't know why
    via u/aussiesnrg
  • 03
    For this Petty Revenge there needs to be a little background information. When I was in high school back in the 80's, my mother did volunteer work in the high school canteen, along with a few others that had their children at the school too. This canteen served both the students, staff and teachers. Like most canteens of the time and area, we had
    via u/aussiesnrg
  • 04
    meat pies, sausage rolls, (and a particular favourite of a buttered bun, with a sausage roll in it & tomato sauce. As we used to say "buttered bun sausage roll 'n sauce thanks") a variety of sandwiches, cakes, drinks, etc. One of these tasty cakes was a buttered 1/2 tea cake. This was very popular! {For those that don't know what a tea cake is, think
    via u/aussiesnrg
  • 05
    of a slight sweet white bread with sultanas in it and pink icing in top. These things were usually a little larger than 30cm (12 inches) long, approximately 16 to18cm (6 1/3 to 7 inches) wide, and about 5 to 7cm (2 to 2 3/4 inches) high.} The canteen would cut them in half and then slice them down the centre and butter them. Very yummy, but not so good for you, this was the 80's.
    via u/aussiesnrg
  • 06
    :) One day there was a cross-country run for P.E. (physical exercise as it was called back then) and everyone had to do this run of about 5km (just over 3 miles). This particular day was about 30° to 35°C (86° to 95° F) might have even been hotter I can't remember but it was HOT! The cross country run was in the morning and lunchtime wasn't long afterwards so
    via u/aussiesnrg
  • 07
    if you finished the run early you could go to lunch. My mum was in the canteen and noticed all these students coming up to the serving window with flushed red cheeks, profusely sweating and looking like some were suffering from heat stroke. After seeing so many she asked why they were all so hot and sweaty and of course they all said "the cross country"
    via u/aussiesnrg
  • 08
    My mum used to work at a very reputable children's Hospital in England before they came to Australia, so basically she knew her stuff! Having a huge stature of massive 4 feet and 5 1/2 inches (136 cm) she walked down to the boys quadrangle where the P.E. teachers rooms were and proceeded to, in front of all the boys, rip strips off the P.E. teacher
    via u/aussiesnrg
  • 09
    responsible for conducting the cross country on such a hot day, (back in those days we weren't allowed to bring a bottle of water either. Madness!) My mum didn't allow him to get a word in edge ways! All the boys watching were laughing and joking how such a short lady was putting the tall a ole P.E. teacher in his place.
    via u/aussiesnrg
  • 10
    Now for the petty revenge! My mum went back to the canteen and of course told all the other canteen ladies, what had just happened and why all the kids are looking really hot, flustered and about to collapse! This teacher always got a 1/2 tea cake for recess, so the next day my mum found the smallest tea cake, and cut it "not very in half" ... And
    via u/aussiesnrg
  • 11
    that teacher got the short end of the stick so to speak. All the other canteen ladies thought that was a fitting punishment for putting, not only their children, but all the other children through a very unnecessary run on such a hot day. This was then adopted so that teacher automatically got the smallest 1/2 tea cake. This continued for a few years till the teacher finally spat the dummy at always having the smallest tea cake.
    via u/aussiesnrg
  • 12
    Now, several years later I was recounting this story to a friend and his friends. I got to the end of the story and one of my friends friend asked if that was at ***** high school, the school I went too. I said sure was! A slight pause and they then said "my dad was that P.E. teacher" ... I froze and thought Oh s t, I've stuffed up here! They then smiled and said "it's ok,
    via u/aussiesnrg
  • 13
    he's a {see you next Tuesday}! No one likes him" She mentioned her Dad had complained about always getting a small 1/2 tea cake. Now she knew why, but wasn't going to tell her Dad. I wonder if she ever did... Petty Revenge complete! Unfortunately my mum passed away quite a few years ago and won't ever know that her petty revenge has been spread to the world for others to enjoy. Thanks Mum for the greatest of times!
    via u/aussiesnrg
  • 14
    littlemissredtoes 19 hr. ago • I knew this was in Australia simply from the list of canteen goodies What was it with making us do fun (nothing f king fun about them) runs on the hottest days ever? Like we do actually have
    via u/littlemissredtoes
  • 15
    cool seasons down under, why make us run 5km in summer when it's most likely going to be in the mid to high 30's?
    via u/littlemissredtoes
  • 16
    aussiesnrg OP. 19 hr. ago Exactly my Mum's thoughts too!
    via u/aussiesnrg
  • 17
    littlemissredtoes · 19 hr. ago Smart woman. Wish I'd had her at my school!
    via u/littlemissredtoes
  • 18
    Rachel_Silver · 17 hr. ago Watching a tiny woman rightfully tear a new a ole for a much larger man is always delightful. When I was in the Navy, I was evening shift supervisor for the
    via u/Rachel_Silver
  • 19
    Line Shack, which was the shop that (among other things) directed helicopters that were taxiing in and out of the flight line by our hanger. There was another 3rd class petty officer on my shift, Sheila. She was tiny and adorable and usually meek and soft-spoken.
    via u/Rachel_Silver
  • 20
    The helicopter pad where our aircraft took off and landed was some distance from our flight line, so they were on their own between those two areas. But once they came back, we directed them to wherever we wanted them to park. Now, technically, the hand signals we
    via u/Rachel_Silver
  • 21
    used were just suggestions with one exception: if we gave the "emergency stop" signal, they had to stop. Our division officer, Lt. Cooper, came back from a flight one evening. I forget why, but Sheila gave him the emergency stop signal, and he ignored it.
    via u/Rachel_Silver
  • 22
    Everyone who had been in place to taxi the bird into position just turned off their light wands and walked away. We also did safety inspections on the aircraft between flights. When an aircraft came back from a flight, someone from our shop would "hot seat" it;
    via u/Rachel_Silver
  • 23
    the pilots would shut down the main engines, then the pilot would get out and someone would take their place to keep the auxiliary power plant running so we could knock out the parts of the inspection that needed the generator and hydraulic systems online.
    via u/Rachel_Silver
  • 24
    I took Lt. Cooper's place. The copilot started to get up, and I said, "Sir, I think you might want to hang out a minute and watch this." Sheila was standing outside the rotor arc, waiting. We couldn't hear a word she said, but it was clear she was very angry, and wasn't holding back.
    via u/Rachel_Silver
  • 25
    Lt. Cooper was a physically imposing specimen, and was almost a foot and a half taller than Sheila. Once she started laying into him, though, the balance of power shifted suddenly and dramatically. His body language made him look like a little boy who'd been caught stealing cookies.
    via u/Rachel_Silver
  • 26
    He wasn't a bad guy, and he knew he had up, so he stood there and took it. Apparently, he did start trying to defend himself, but he only got out three or four words before Sheila cut him off by screaming, "BULLS T!"
    via u/Rachel_Silver
  • 27
    Misa7 2006 11 hr. ago As they say, it's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog. Not calling Sheila a dog by any means, but to say, watch out, even small packages can have a big bang!
    via u/Misa7_2006
  • 28
    Dranask 20 hr. ago • His Teacake was probably the one that was most carefully cut. It was a karmalised one.
    via u/Dranask
  • 29
    Boomerw4ang 14 hr. ago You didn't even need to say you're in Australia. This whole post is like a case study of the Aussie lexicon.
    via u/Boomerw4ang

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oddly specific cafeteria situational humor petty-revenge-reddit students malicious compliance comedy central reddit story petty revenge high school subreddit Reddit mom oddly satisfying
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